Ornamental cap for screws and other fastenings.



R. S. BOWEN.

OBNAMENTAL CAP FOR SGREWS AND OTHER FASTENINGS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20, 1908.

91 5,068, Patented Mar. 16, 1909.

ROBERT S. BOWEN, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ORNAMENTAL GAP FOR SCREWS AND OTHER FASTENINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 16, 1909.

Application filed June 20, 1908. Serial No. 489,500.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT S. BOWEN, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ornamental (laps for Screws and other Fastenings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to screw-threaded and driven fastenings, and has for its general object to provide such fastenings with ornamental heads of improved character, capable of convenient'and ready application, which shall remain securely in place after being applied, and which shall be adapted to be removed at will.

The invention consists in a novel and improved construction of a fastening of the general class aforesaid, the cap or cover therefor, and means for disconnectibly attaching such zap or cover to he head of the said fastening, all contrived to ca se the cap or cover to be elasticallysecured in. place and its margin kept close to' the surface of the said head, or to an adjacent surface, as the case may be.

More specifically, the invention consists in the combination with a fastening (exen'iplilicd by a screw in each of the illustrated embodiments of the invention) havingformed in the head thereof a socket with contracted mouth, of a cap consisting wholly or in part of a disk or its equivalent of elastic material and dished or curved so as to possess a central upward bulge, convexity, or crown, such cap being formed with a split stud projecting from the under side thereof, adapted to enter the said socket, and reduced in diameter to form a neck above a portion of greater diameter.

In applying the cap to the head of the fastening, the margin of the disk or its equivalent takes bearing against the head of the fastening oran adjacent surface, before the stud has arrived fully home within the.

socket, so that the continued application of pressure in completing the insertion of the stud operates to flex and partly flatten the disk or its equivalent and thereby call its elasticity into play. When the neck of the stud has entered the contracted mouth of the socket, and the said presure has been discontinued, the tension ofthe disk or its equivalent acting with a tendency to partly withdraw the stud from the socket, will operate to keep in contact with the under side of the said lip the shoulder which is formed on the stud just below its neck, and as the extent of the withdrawal under the spring action is thereby limited, the elastic presssure of the margin of the disk or its e uivalent against the outer surface of the hea of the fastening; will be maintained.

Embodiments of the invention in connection with different forms of screws are shown in the drawings, in which latter,

Figure 1 is a partly-sectional side elevation of a wood-screw having in connection therewith one of said embodiments. Fig. 2 is a partly-sectional side elevation of the screw of Fig. 1, with the -cap removed. Fig. 3 is a top View of the head of the screw of Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the cap of Fig! 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the said cap, shown separately. Fig. 6 is a partly-sectional elevation of a second embodiment of the invention. Fig. 7 is a similar view showing a further embodiment.

Having reference to the drawings,-At 1,

Fi s. 1 and 2, is shown a wood-screw having a i at-topped head 2, the nick in such head for the reception of the end of a screw-driver being shown at 3, Fig. 3. This nick mars the finish and appearance of fine cabinet work, in cases in which the heads of screws show. It also catches and holds dust, lint, oil or the like. t

The socket which I provide in the head of a fastening is designated 4. It may be formed by boring or drilling into the head from the top, using a cylindrical tool, and the lip 5 at the mouth of the socket may be produced by a metal-spinning operation acting to dislodge inwardly a portion of the metal of the screw-head around the said mouth.

The cap of Figs. 1 to 5 consists of a simple disk 6, slightly dishedto give it a concavoconvex shape. Its stud is designated 7, and

projects downward from the concave under side of the said disk, as aforesaid. The neck, of reduced diameter, of the said stud is indicated at 8. To render the stud compressible and ex ansible in diameter, it is slitted longitudina ly, two slits 7, 7 crossing each other at right angles, preferably being formed therein. These slits enable the stud to be contracted in diameter as its lower portion is forced through the mouth of the socket, either in being inserted into such socket or being withdrawn therefrom, andneck, with the under side of the lip 5, operates to revent the stud from being raised farther by the tendency of the partly-flattened dished disk 6 to resume its normal shape. Consequently, the said disk is maintained in a state of tension, keeping its margin in bearing contact with the top surface of the head of the screw. Thereby the cap is held snugly and tightly in place.

To facilitate the introduction of the edge of a sharp-edged implement between the margin of the cap and the head of the screw, for the purpose of effecting the removal of the cap, the edge of the cap is rounded underneath, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

The disk 6 is shown as a completely circular piece in Fig. 4, bearing uniformly around its margin. These features are referred, but are not absolutely indispensable.

In Figs. 1 to 5 the elastic disk itself forms the cap. Its top surface, in this instance, is srfiogthand in practice will be suitably fin- 1S er Fig. 6 shows a construction in which a shell, 10, forms the exterior of the cap, it

which are integral with the stud and take hearing by their down-curved free ends against the head 2 of the screw 1. case the head 2* is convex, as in the case'of round-head screws, and the margin of the shell 10 fits down around the outer portion of the said head, and is held in contact tl eregvith by the elastic tension of the wings 7 7 v In Fig. 7 the construction is similar to that of Fig. 6, except that the shell, therein designated 10*, is of greater diameter than that of Fig, 6, and rojects at its margin clear of the margin 0 the head of the screw so that when the screw is driven home into a In this pieceof wood, and the. cap 'is applied, the

margin of the cap will overhan the surface of the wood and its edge wilI be located against such surface or close thereto.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a fastening of the general class aforesaid, having a socketed end, of a cap havin a stud adapted to enter the socket, and a so having a dished or curved elasti disk or its equivalent acting by its elastic tension to hold the cap snugly in place.

2 The combination with a fastening of the general class aforesaid, provided with a socket havin a contracted mouth of a cap havingv a nec ed stud adapted to enter the socket, and also having a dished or curved elastic disk or its equivalent acting by its ellastic tension to hold the cap snugly in ace. p In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses. V

ROBERT S. BOWEN. Witnesses:

'CHAS. F. RANDALL,

EDITH J. ANDERSON. 

